ATC SM75-150S Dome Mid Measurement Data

Don't worry about 'complexity' - most of what you listen to on CD has passed through 100 OP amps (on average) before you even get to play with it.

That puts some of the more outlandish and tweaky shit we see on hi-fi fora firmly into perspective IMO.

Those KSC modules look very interesting. What sort of prices are we talking?

 

Those aren't proper studios though Simon - there's not an ATC in sight.

 

Oh I agree entirely - if a simple set up does the trick then great.
My point has more to do with a view that the replay chain in the home needs to be as simple and short as possible, something held as a matter of principle in many cases. The console in your pic may not have much in the way of external boxes or analogue OP amps but some heavy and complex processing will be going on inside, possibly on large DSP units executed in software.

Then again, I suspect most of the music in our homes was recorded more than 10 years ago.

 

Simon, which studio is shown in your last photo?

 

Yes, but your a whipper-snapper Simon, not like the rest of us old farts

Then again you do have a nice collection of 78s and recording doesn't get much simper than that

 

Things are heading in the right direction but nothing compares on a like for like basis with a PC setup.

I'm working extremely hard on trying to juggle up a dedicated and standalone machine - no monitor, just a small shuttle sized PC case. The plan is to turn it on wait a couple of minutes for it to boot into Linux and thats it. Being Linux its bomb proof so no stability issues, infact its a bare bones linux install with only the sound interface layer and the operating Kernel itself running.

I plan to run it on a core 2 duo mobile CPU so the entire thing can be passively cooled - completely silent.

It'll allow for 3 analogue stereo sources(or a single 5.1 audio), many channels of digital in's and upto 16 channels of processed output for complete multichannel correction and filtering over 5 multiway speakers plus stereo subs if need be.

All processing will be done at double precision floating point (64bit) and the machine will filter at 96Khz as standard with 192Khz an option but will result in the loss of a few outputs. Samplerate conversion will take place for anything that isn't at the same rate as the filtering but its possible to generate 'native' filters for each sampling rate ie. 44, 48, 88, 96 etc. and have the PC detect and switch between each.

I've also been pestering Uli who wrote Acourate and we have some minimum phase filtering with time alignment, full driver AND room correction working with down to 1.5ms filter latency. This is perfect for realtime applications such as gaming, movie & TV playback etc.

When quality is paramount then linear phase can be deployed but latency rises to around 1 second. This isn't an issue for music and will provide the very best sound possible.

There's even an IR receiver on the PC so its entirely possible to have EQ presets and switch between them as you'd do with any consumer box.

The implementation of the hardware is a piece of piss but customising the software is taking some time.

 

I'm don't know. From what I heard the system was not great for people who hear classical music and who go to such concerts.

 

Using a Naim CD player at the moment, I can well understand that comment Titian - I feel as if a layer of the acoustic has been stripped from the music at times.

I think the ATC's are an elegant solution for someone looking to simplify things and get a decent enough setup for a reasonable cost. I would consider them myself if I ever decided to go down that route -either the SCM50 or the B&O Beolab 5 would seem to fit the bill.

 

Unfortunately there wasn't a difference when using the SME turntable. I'll anyway hope i will be able to hear the SCM 100ASL and 150ASL with both Naim and Gryphon Mikado CD player. Maybe they should use another preamp.

 

The tragedy is that apart from one or two glowing reviews, the Beolab 5 will just be regarded as an oddity in "our" circle, when in fact it's one of the very few genuinely innovative speakers to be introduced to the mass market in years IMO.

The other thing is the musically ignorant Beopeople who will buy them for background listening and showing off only - (well, it is B&O's top speaker after all and I've got to show how successful I am) -.

Sorry for the above. When I worked for a West End dealer we had some seriously wealthy clients, who never deliberately let on or paraded their wealth. Moving to the suburbs to a B&O salon with separates too (a dead breed these days), showed a completely different mentality by the small business owners who wanted to show how successful they were and how arrogant they could be...

 

I have a BMW dealer neighbour that says exactly the same thing.

He had a scruffy fella in a few months back that was mumbling about trading his "old car" in for a BMW but never said what it was. He turned up the next week to get his trade in valued and it was a >£80k turbo Porsche 911.

 

Trust your judgement fox. This thread is 99% trollery, and 1% audiophoolery.

Anyway, I'm off, as Stereo Mic is no doubt on his way back....

 

Fox, what Micromega DAC are you using?

I ask because I used to have the T-DAC (and T-Drive) about 4-5 years ago.

 

That's great, I wish I could say the same. I'm also not interested in special effects. I just want to sit down and listen to music and have a feeling after ten seconds that's every thing is absolutely (damn) normal, like I would be in the concert hall (best seats). No super huge soundstage, no ah-ha effects and so on. Just boaring normal. But it wasn't like that the other day, I don't know where the problem was. I was always caught by things in the sound that for me weren't completely normal and that made me aware of having a system in front of me.

 

Do you think it's possible to listen to one system in one room - your own for instance - and another somewhere else, and then draw meaningful comparisons between the two?

I am sure that one of the reasons why I like my system is that I like my room.

And fox has pointed out the real purpose of a hi-fi system, which is to reproduce what's on the recording.